Dormitory & Common Room Visitation

Dorm Room Visitation

Deerfield’s dorm room visitation policy reinforces our Sexual Intimacy Policy and acknowledges the possibility of same gender relationships that are more than a simple friendship, implicitly placing a degree of trust in students. At Deerfield, sexual intimacy is inappropriate.

The following rules apply to both opposite-sex and same-sex couples’ visitation:

• Visitation privileges are granted at the sole discretion of the on-duty faculty member and may be subject to assessments of dormitory citizenship, room cleanliness, and other factors.
• Visitation is allowed after October 1 (for groups including freshman, and for couples and groups including sophomores, juniors, and seniors) and after January 1 (for couples including freshmen).
  • Visitation is allowed on Friday and Saturday nights, from 8pm until 15 minutes before the earliest curfew of the youngest student.
  • Study Parietals, available only to juniors and seniors during study hours after October 1, must adhere to study hall guidelines.
• For underclassmen, the door must be open as wide as a trash can and the room’s main overhead light must be turned on.
• For upperclassmen, the door must be open as wide as shoe, and a light source (not a computer display) must be on.
• Visiting students and their hosts must check-in and check-out with an on-duty faculty member in the dorm.

Common Room Visitation

Common room visitation does not require faculty permission but is subject to the following guidelines:

• Unsupervised common room visitation is permitted only on the first floor common rooms of the following dormitories:
  • Barton
  • Crow Commons (main level only)
  • DeNunzio
  • Harold Smith
  • John Louis
  • John Williams
  • Louis Marx
  • Rosenwald/Shumway
• Common room visitation is allowed on school nights from 6:45 pm until 7:45 pm.
• On Saturday and Sunday, common room visitation is allowed from 1pm until 5pm, and from 7pm until 15 minutes before curfew.

Dormitory Sleepovers

• Sleepovers are allowed only on Friday or Saturday nights and must be approved by the on-duty faculty (of both dormitories) at least one hour before the curfew of the student host.
• Only three sleepovers (three students) are allowed per corridor.
• If an underclassman is staying in an upperclass dormitory, their underclass curfew still applies.
• Day students must have parental permission to stay overnight in a dormitory; day-student sleepovers are permitted only on weekends, during inclement weather, or with permission of a dean for special events (e.g. Dance Showcase, etc.).
• The student spending the night must fill out a paper Sleepover Form, which requires signatures of faculty on duty in both the visitor’s and the host’s dorms. Copies of this pass must be posted on both visitor and host doors.
• The host dorm faculty member on duty must notify the School Officer in Charge (SOC) of the sleepover—by phone, email, or through the eSignout system. The SOC can be reached at 413-772-9070.